Posted on 03/07/2006 1:16:42 PM PST by indcons
Two powerful bombs went off within minutes of each other — at the famous Sankat Mochan temple and the Cantonment Railway Station — in Varanasi on Tuesday evening, killing at least 28 people and injuring 100 others.
Late-night reports said the death toll could be higher.
The first blast took place at the Sankat Mochan temple, near the Banaras Hindu University, around 6.15 pm. About 3,000 devotees had assembled at the temple to offer Tuesday aarti. At least four persons died on the spot. The bomb is believed to have been kept in a box.
Eyewitnesses said the blast created a stampede-like situation, with people running in panic. They gave accounts of a gory sight: blood on the floor and flesh strewn all over. They said many of the injured simply collapsed and had to be carried out.
The injured were taken to the nearby BHU hospital and other private hospitals. One of the injured has been identified as Qamar-ud-Din. Following the blast, the temple was sealed.
Around 20 minutes later, another powerful bomb rocked the waiting room on platform number one at the Cantonment Station. The Delhi-bound Shiv-Ganga Express, scheduled to leave at 7 pm, was at the platform. Reports said at least 10 were killed and over 40 people were critically injured in the blast. The impact of the blast was such that it left a crater on the platform. "The entire place shook and soon there was flesh and blood lying everywhere," said a survivor. "It was a terrible scene. Five-six bodies were lying nearby."
Sources said the administration suspects RDX was used in the blasts - indicating involvement of terrorist organisations. However, till late night no group had claimed responsibility.
Even as the city was reeling from the shock, more live bombs were recovered -- from Gyanvapi Complex, from a restaurant in the Dashashwamedh area and two from the Cantonment Station restaurant. They were said to be timer devices.
Soon after the blasts, the city felt the after-effects: shopkeepers downed shutters and people started raising anti-Pakistan slogans, raising fears of a communal flare-up.
Additional policemen have been deployed in public places and vital installations, including airport, railway stations and bus stands, sources said. Patrolling has also been intensified throughout the city as precautionary measure.
The security has also been stepped up in and around the sensitive Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque and additional forces have been deployed to monitor the activities of anti-social elements, sources said.
Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav condemned the blasts and announced a relief of Rs 5 lakh for the family of the deceased.
In Delhi, Union Home Secretary VK Duggal told reporters that the pattern of the Varanasi blasts was similar to the pre-Diwali serial explosions in Delhi last year.
President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the blasts and appealed to the people to maintain peace. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil rushed to Varanasi late in the night.
Immediately after the blasts, the police were put on high alert in several parts of the country.
(With inputs from Delhi)
thanks for the ping Fred!
I'm going to listen to the audio link when I come back from dinner.
Couldn't agree more...however, the ruling state govt. and the federal govt. depend on muslim votes (these governments are the Indian equivalent of the Democrats). Nothing will happen in that country (India); it is beyond all hope (re: the muslim menace)and is well on the path to dhimmification (you can tell I am very, very frustrated).
I hope at least the West learns from what happens in Asia when countries have a muslim population of any percentage. It is not too late for the West, yet.
Islam turns people into zombies and lacks any redeeming qualities.
Watch out for the posting police.
"Couldn't agree more...however, the ruling state govt. and the federal govt. depend on muslim votes (these governments are the Indian equivalent of the Democrats). Nothing will happen in that country (India); it is beyond all hope (re: the muslim menace)and is well on the path to dhimmification (you can tell I am very, very frustrated). "
What about the BJP? Dont they want the Muslims out? Eventually hopefully the average Hindu and Christian Indians get so fed up at the Muslim's behavior that popular opinion will demand that the Muslims are expelled.
I'm sure Pakistan would be glad to take them in, since they feel they are at a disadvantage with only 1/9 the population of India.
"I hope at least the West learns from what happens in Asia when countries have a muslim population of any percentage. It is not too late for the West, yet."
Don't give up, there's still hope for India and the West. People are slowly but surely starting to realize that Islam and Muslims are a threat to the world. One day we will have a reckoning with the Muzzies, or at least I hope so.
For now, the most we can do is inform everyone of the truth, and vote.
take care,
Hill of Tara
Jeff
oh! i forgot. its only some freaking hindus who died. its only a temple! not a mosque. had it been muslims or a mosque, we would have secularists like arundhati roy protesting on the road raising hell and speaking on foreign TV channels saying Hindus in India are bloodsuckers preying on minorities and that she is ashamed to be a Indian and that India again is whore, this time not being bartered by pimps but by hindus!
(yes, she called President Bush and PM Singh as pimps distributing India among themselves as India was a whore! her exact lines were: this whole nuclear deal, obviously, which sounds to me a bit like, you know, some -- I mean, I hate to be so rude, but it sounds like sort of like pimps negotiating how somebody should act with their client. You know, you can sort of [inaudible] the girl, but you can't kiss her, because its -- and it's all theater, you know? Link: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/03/151200)
my post might not make sense to some of you but my indian friends understand it quite well coz they should have gone thru these motions already. i am mad as hell. just hope another gujarat doesnt happen (although this time I WILL NOT BE SORRY for muslims!)! :(
I am so sorry for your loss.
A damaged part of the Sankat Mochan temple complex after the bomb blast in Varanasi on Tuesday evening, which left at least 15 people killed and dozens injured. (AP photo)
Onlookers watch bomb blast site outside the Varanasi railway station after the twin blasts. (AFP photo)
People take a victim in Varanasi following the blasts. (AP photo)
People watch blood stains on the ground outside a railway station. (AFP photo)
An injured person being treated at a hospital in Varanasi on Tuesday. (PTI photo)
A policeman keeps vigil as security has been tightened in New Delhi following the blasts in Varanasi. (PTI photo)
Heavy security at Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai on Tuesday. (TOI photo)
A man being frisked as security tightened around India following the series of blasts in Varanasi. (PTI photo)
A body being removed from the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi after a bomb blast on Tuesday. (PTI photo)
A policeman searches for concealed bombs in Varanasi following the blasts. (AP)
People bring in a victim of a bomb blast for treatment at a hospital in Varanasi. (AP)
People stand at the site of a bomb blast at the railway station in Varanasi. (AP photo)
Source : Times Of India
I used to read the discussion forum at kavkaz.org and this was
usual behavior. Actually there used to be questions about the correct way to behead an infidel, and they weren't from chechens, either.
"On Friday, there were clashes in the nearby city of Lucknow after Hindu shop owners refused to respect a general strike called by Muslim leaders to protest Bush's visit to India. Four people were killed."
Varanasi blasts suspect killed in Lucknow
Wednesday, 08 March , 2006, 08:44
Lucknow: Hours after the blasts in Varanasi, a suspected Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militant was shot dead in an encounter with the police in Gosaiganj area on the outskirts of Lucknow early Wednesday.
Police identified the militant as Salar alias Doctor and did not rule out his involvement in Tuesdays blasts at the Sankatmochan temple and Cantonment railway station in Varanasi, which claimed at least twenty lives.
RDX and some detonators were from his possession after the encounter with the Special Task Force (STF), police sources said.
Sources said that Salar was on his way to Lucknow when he was shot dead by the STF in an encounter.
Good post...thanks for posting the pics. The muslims need to be taught a lesson they won't forget for a while.
Cities across India are on high alert, a day after twin bomb blasts rocked the holy city of Varanasi.
Fourteen people are confirmed dead in the blasts at a Hindu temple and a railway station and more than 100 were injured, officials told the BBC.
Some reports put the death toll at more than 20 but this cannot be confirmed.
The government says its main concern is to stop religious violence flaring up. Uttar Pradesh state has a history of clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Local religious leaders have joined Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in appealing for calm.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the head of the governing Congress Party, Sonia Gandhi, went to Varanasi and visited the scene of the attacks.
Security has been stepped up around the areas that were bombed and in major cities, including the capital, Delhi.
No group has so far said it was behind the attacks.
Religious centre
The BBC's Mark Dummett in Varanasi says a wedding party took the brunt of the blast at the Sankat Mochan temple.
He says shoes of devotees lie scattered on the ground, which is stained with blood. Flies are everywhere.
Some Hindu groups called for a strike in Varanasi in protest against the attacks.
Despite the call, some shops were open and vehicles on the roads. Trains ran as normal and morning prayers were held in the many temples dotting the city.
Varanasi, also known as Benares, is about 670km (415 miles) south-east of Delhi.
It is the religious capital of Hinduism and is usually packed with Indian pilgrims and foreign tourists.
The twin blasts both occurred at about the same time, 1815 local time (1245 GMT), witnesses told the BBC News website.
The first took place in the Sankot Mochan temple dedicated to the Hindu God Hanuman, shortly before Tuesday's main evening prayer was to begin.
Minutes later, the main railway station was rocked by a second blast. Exactly how many people were killed or injured in each explosion is still unclear.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil told reporters it appeared explosives had been placed in a pressure cooker in the temple attack.
"It was comprised of ammonium nitrate and a timed device... Fewer people died in the temple. More people died at the station while waiting for the train."
Officials said experts also defused two bombs - on the bank of the River Ganges and at a city market. One of the bombs had a timing device.
The explosions happened days after Hindus and Muslims fought one another in the nearby city of Lucknow.
'Loved, respected'
"The explosion at the temple is horrific and shocking to me," the high priest of the temple, Veer Bhadra Mishra, told the BBC News website.
"The Sankat Mochan temple is loved, respected and revered by so many people as a place of religious worship and ritual. I am so pained."
In a separate incident, police in the state capital, Lucknow, say they have killed a militant wanted in connection with last October's bomb blasts in Delhi in which more than 60 people were killed and 210 injured.
They say the dead man was a member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
Source: BBC
Some pics:
The hunt continues for those behind Tuesday's bomb attacks, which killed at least 14 in the Indian holy city of Varanasi.
Troops patrolled the city's Cantonment train station, site of one of the two bombings
Other security staff stood watch outside the Sankat Mochan temple, rocked by a blast around sunset.
In Delhi, security officials searched rail passengers amid fears of more attacks.
Passengers were checked as trains pulled in to Delhi station. Authorities are afraid the blasts may stoke religious tensions.
Hindu nationalist activists gathered in Delhi to protest at the bombings.
People are shocked in Varanasi, which has a reputation for religious tolerance.
Investigators spent the night searching for clues. It is not clear who carried out the attacks. (Picture: Serena Bowles)
Source: BBC
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